Liz Truss backs Donald Trump again by blaming Tory election defeat on plastic straw ban

Liz Truss, the UK’s shortest serving prime minister, has blamed many things for her earning that title back in October 2022. And in her latest attempt to cosy up to US president Donald Trump’s new administration, she’s now claiming a “ludicrous” ban on plastic straws – which the Republican is looking to scrap stateside – contributed to the Tories’ electoral defeat last year.

The executive order-obsessed Trump, who went on a massive signing spree on his first day in office, took to his Truth Social platform on Friday (February 7) to declare that he would be issuing a new directive next week to end “the ridiculous Biden push for paper straws, which don’t work”.

“BACK TO PLASTIC,” he wrote.

And Truss, who has waded into US politics in recent months with awkward appearances on Fox News, a speech about shower heads at the Republican National Convention and by criticising Kamala Harris’s ability to “do the job” (kids in glass houses eh Liz), backs Trump’s plans.

Sharing a repost of Trump’s comments on Twitter/X, she said: “I tried to stop the ludicrous British government plastic straw ban back in 2018. These lefty policies resulted in the Conservatives getting trounced in 2024.

“Good for @realDonaldTrump for standing up for common sense.”

The former MP for South West Norfolk also attached a screenshot of a Daily Mail article from 2018 reporting on her previous comments on plastic straws, when she said “the government’s role should not be to tell us what our tastes should be” such as not “drinking from disposable cups through plastic straws”.

Unsurprisingly, Truss’s latest remarks have been met with disbelief – not least from The Thick of It creator Armando Iannucci:

Mail on Sunday commentator Dan Hodges questioned whether plastic straws were really the problem:

Another Twitter/X user said it was “quite possibly the worst take ever” from someone who served as prime minister:

And, naturally, people took the opportunity to once again point out just how brief Truss’s premiership was:

Plastic straws aren’t the only thing Truss has attacked in recent days, as she also called for “all parts” of the BBC to be “defunded” and claimed it is “not trusted in Britain”.

Yet again, people were quick to remind the ex-Tory politician about the circumstances surrounding her resignation as PM – namely the catastrophic mini budget – with Dragon’s Den star Deborah Meaden advising Truss that she “wouldn’t talk about trust” if she was in her position.

Words of wisdom right there…

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